Credit cards

[petersonra]

The reality of today's world is that electronic payment is the way most people handle the majority of their transactions. Businesses that don't find a way to deal with that will lose out.

A 2% cash discount is not a bad idea, but I would not take a personal check and give the 2% discount. There is a reason the check guarantee companies charge as much as they do.

 

[brian john]

Dealing with the government we went from 60-120 days from date of invoice to being paid to 2-3 days. We left everything as it is and are happy we get paid in a timely manner. Most of our commercial customers and the electrical contractors we work for still pay by check.

 

[kwired]

I just got an e-mail from Square about a new feature. You can swipe credit cards when you are offline. So if you are out of cell phone service of if you use a tablet without cell service, you can swipe the credit card on the spot and then have it register when you go back somewhere with service or WiFi.

This is a good feature for people without smart phones, all you need is a basic tablet that could run the square app. When you get back to the shop you can connect it to your Wifi to finish the transaction.

What if you get back to the shop and the card was declined? Then you are back to being about as useful as taking the card number and making manual entries in a way.

Dealing with the government we went from 60-120 days from date of invoice to being paid to 2-3 days. We left everything as it is and are happy we get paid in a timely manner. Most of our commercial customers and the electrical contractors we work for still pay by check.

Government pays with credit cards? I guess I have seen government employees with some kind of credit card for some expenses such as fuel, lodging, or other official business related expenses, never had any government agency offer to pay for contractor work with such a card though. Even when I was in military, we occasionally would be given a card for fuel purchases when driving a government vehicle for official business, but that was all we were allowed to use that card for.

 

[HackElectric]

What if you get back to the shop and the card was declined? Then you are back to being about as useful as taking the card number and making manual entries in a way.

They have disclaimers specifically saying that you are responsible for transactions that are later declined. Meaning, don't expect them to go out and get your money, you better get on the phone with the customer and figure out why it was declined and have them pay you with another method.

 

[kwired]

They have disclaimers specifically saying that you are responsible for transactions that are later declined. Meaning, don't expect them to go out and get your money, you better get on the phone with the customer and figure out why it was declined and have them pay you with another method.

I kind of figured that, my point was if you swipe the card and have no internet to verify, then you do have the risk of finding out later that you basically left the customer without getting paid, same as if you wrote down their card info and did a manual entry back at the office.

 

[Birken Vogt]

One guy I work for does a fair amount of business with the government (state and fed) and he always is able to get a card from them. Compare that with 45+ days to pay and it makes good sense. Especially if some bean counter sees the invoice and asks for extra documentation or other waste of time.

I choose to accept cards with no questions asked because it creates goodwill with the customer. The customer is always right. If they want to pay you with a card then that must be because it works for them financially so who am I to refuse that? I don't see any need to raise my rate over it because I feel it could more than pay for itself by way of making a sale where one otherwise would not have been made, or by getting full pay on site when otherwise I might have had to try and collect money.

As to the costs, Square, Intuit and Paypal basically charge all the same rates and are the lowest in the credit card industry, with no fixed costs and no investment required (other than a smart phone which I found useful for all kinds of things). There is an upstart that goes by the cute name "Rectangle" which is slightly lower and seems more aimed toward established businesses with less of the hipster influence as Square. They promise not to hold onto your money as Square reportedly sometimes does.

I am on Square and they have been good to me so far. I suppose Intuit would make the best sense if I was on Quickbooks but I am not.

 

[HackElectric]

I use QuickBooks. There was recently integration with Square and QuickBooks. It doesn't work for me because I use QuickBooks for MAC, tho.

But it I don't mind. I enter my invoices into QuickBooks manually.